Favorite

I'm not really what you'd call a 'literature' person.  (Sorry, Dr. Mack, I know that's your thing.)  I read, and I enjoy reading (most of the time), but I'm not a fast reader.  It's a lot easier for me to relate to other types of art.  (But this class is REALLY helping me get more out of reading - seriously.)

I roomed with one of my good high school friends for my first three years of college.  He studied film here at BYU, and continues to do so as a graduate student in California.  While living together, I think some 'film critic' rubbed off on me.  I try to watch movies as pieces of art rather than mere forms of entertainment.  (However, different films serve different purposes - everybody needs a little Nacho Libre every now and then.)  I've also been playing music since I was five years old.  With this background, it's easier for me to relate to sound and visual images than to text.

My favorite thing we've studied so far this semester was the film The Mission.  (As mentioned in a previous post, I may be biased because I served my mission in Paraguay and visited the ruins of the Jesuit missions.)  But as we discussed in class, this film isn't really about the Guaraní Indians.  I think I'd like this film just as much if the setting were a different Latin American country with a different Indian tribe.  It's the message and high quality of the film that gets to me.

The Mission is about redemption - it has one of the best 'atonement' scenes that I've ever seen.  The film makes you think about life and hard decisions and how to treat others.  In addition, it's stunning from an artistic perspective.  It won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography and was nominated for Best Picture.  The film score is equally beautiful - I heard "Gabriel's Oboe" several times before I ever saw the movie or realized that that's where the melody came from.  The music was ranked #23 on the American Film Institute's 100 Years of Film Scores.

Conclusion:  that's why The Mission is my favorite so far.

Agua y fuego

"These things of the water, the mermaid, the golden carp.  They are strange.  There is so much water around the town, the river, the creek, the lakes-" (117)

"I thought about the sins of the town and how the golden carp would punish the sinners.  He would drown them in clear, blue water.  Then we passed the church and I thought about God's punishment for sinners.  He casts them in the burning pit of hell where they burn for eternity... Drowning or burning, the punishment was all the same." (137)

(Rudolfo Anaya, Bless Me, Ultima)

Fire and water are two of the most raw, elemental symbols that exist.  Their contrasting characteristics make them go well together:  fire rises up, water sinks down; fire's heat dries up water, water puts out fire.  There's a very good yin-yang feel about them.

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In a religious setting, I think most people associate water with "good" and fire with "bad".  For example, fire destroys; the "fires of hell" remind us of punishment and suffering.  In contrast, water soothes and cleans us; we are baptized in water.  Our physical lives depend on it, and Christ talks about "living water".

But are we not also baptized by fire?  Fire also cleanses and purifies, and gives us heat and warmth necessary for life.  Moses saw the power of God in a burning bush, and later as a pillar of fire.  Joseph Smith talked about heaven as a place of "everlasting burnings"; the Bible Dictionary says that fire is often a symbol of God's presence.  Water also has some negative connotations - Noah and his family were saved while water destroyed the rest of mankind.  Lehi's family and the Jaredites had to pass through stormy seas; the apostles were also frightened during a storm while Jesus slept on the boat.  And how often do we hear that nonsense about "Satan controlling the waters"?

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I think it's awesome how symbols can be used to denote completely opposite ideas.  Fire and water aren't the only examples.  (Snakes are another good one - a symbol for the devil, right?  But what about the brazen serpent and feathered serpent?)  I think that's what's going on with all the water stuff in Bless Me, Ultima.  Water is a precious resource in the dusty desert... how lucky for their town to be surrounded by it.  But remember that one day the Golden Carp will return and flood the city, punishing all the sinners.  Antonio is a mix of the sweet moon water and the salty sea.  "[Is] the power of good and evil the same?" (page 55); power might just be power, and it depends on how we view it - the same for water and other symbols.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,

The rivers of sorrow shall not thee o'erflow,

For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,

And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,

My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply.

The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design

Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

-Robert Keen

Mom vs. Dad

"It is the blood of the Lunas to be quiet, for only a quiet man can learn the secrets of the earth that are necessary for planting- They are quiet like the moon- And it is the blood of the Márez to be wild, like the ocean from which they take their name, and the spaces of the llano that have become their home."

     I waited, then said. "Now we have come to live near the river, and yet near the llano.  I love them both, and yet I am of neither. I wonder which life I will choose?"

     "Ay, hijito," she chuckled, "do not trouble yourself with those thoughts.  You have plenty of time to find yourself-"

     "But I am growing," I said, "every day I grow older-"

     "True," she replied softly.  She understood that as I grew I would have to choose to be my mother's priest or my father's son.

(Rudolfo Anaya, Bless Me, Ultima, 41)

Latino or no, coming-of-age stories are not hard to find.  The example of Bless Me, Ultima has the added element of one parent versus the other.  Antonio feels that he must choose to become either like his mother's side of the family (calm, settled, religious farmers) or like his father's (rowdy, free-spirited, indifferent vaqueros).  The idea of parental polarization goes way back:

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"Y crecieron los niños, y Esaú fue diestro en la caza, hobre del campo; pero Jacob era hombre quieto, que habitaba en tiendas.  Y amó Isaac a Esaú, porque comía de su caza; mas Rebeca amaba a Jacob."  Génesis 25:27-28

We see similar parallels from the Old Testament:  the outdoorsy hunter is loved by the father while the quiet son is loved by the mother.  Another very similar example can be found in the character Jack from the movie The Tree of Life:

The premise of this movie is virtually the same as Bless Me, Ultima, just set in a small, 1950s American town.  A quote from this trailer says, "There are two ways through life - the way of nature and the way of grace.  You have to choose which one you'll follow."

Jack's father teaches him the way of nature - survival of the fittest.  To succeed, one must be strong and willing to fight, no matter the cost.  "It takes fierce will to get ahead in this world," says the father.  On the other hand, his mother teaches him the way of grace.  She teaches love, faith, and an appreciation for the world.  "Unless you love, your life will flash by."

I think Antonio Márez's feelings can be summed up perfectly in the quote from the trailer, "Father, Mother - always you wrestle inside me.  Always you will."  (Remember Jacob's coming-of-age wrestling match?)  It seems that Antonio and Jack think that they only have two choices, that they can either become like their mother or their father.  Are those the only choices - is there no happy medium?  Or can these two philosophies somehow be reconciled?